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Manny Pacquiao Unanimously Scored as Winner in Pointless WBO Review

June 20th, 2012 at 4:23 PM By Sharon Scrima

The results of the WBO's review of the highly criticized scoring of the June 9 championship fight that gave Timothy Bradley the welterweight title with a split decision victory over pound-for-pound king Manny Pacquiaohave been released to RingTV.com. All five judges scored the contest in favor of the former Filipino champion. So what?

A panel of 'five recognized international judges' was formed by WBO President Francisco "Paco" Valcarcel to evaluate the video of the fight. All five judges had the bout for Pacquiao with scores of 117-111, 117-111, 118-110, 116-112, and 115-113. Bradley won on two of the three official scorecards with identical scores of 115-113 from Duane Ford and C.J. Ross, while Jerry Roth scored it the same way in Pacquiao's favor.

'World Boxing News' provides a statistical breakdown of the panel's scores compared to those of the official judges. Of all eight judges, only Ford gave Bradley Rounds 1 and 9. Ford and Ross were also the only two judges who gave Round 5 to the challenger Bradley.

The only thing the WBO can do is authorize a rematch, one that was already included in the fight contract and one that Pacquiao himself may not have an interest in pursuing. Such a rematch holds little appeal within the boxing community and fan base, as well.

The five judges appointed to the panel were qualified to review the fight. Yet, they apparently were not deemed good enough to officiate the actual bout on June 9. In a BoxingScene.com report, the Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC) tends to select judges who reside in Nevada for fights that take place in Las Vegas. The NSAC is under no legal obligation to take promoter input on judge and referee appointments into account. However, it is not uncommon for the NSAC to remove names from consideration in cases where the promoter strongly objects to a particular name.

No one expected the decision to be overturned. However, there is an expectation that the true source of the problem be authentically addressed and taken seriously.

This review is meaningless if the explanations provided by Duane Ford and C.J. Ross for their scores are simply accepted at face value, they are then just assigned to the next big fight and nothing is done to improve the process of training, selecting and evaluating judges.

Until we see the kind of results that will make a meaningful difference in the sport, these type of reviews are a waste of time and are fooling no one.